Chapter 4: Turbulent Times and Reshaped Rural School Network in Hungary

The main goal of this chapter is to provide an overview of the most important changes that have been shaping the Hungarian rural school network during the last decade and a half. The 15 years in question covered an unprecedentedly turbulent period in the Hungarian educational system with deep structural changes governed by policy arrangements of a different nature. Between 2002 and 2010, when left-wing and liberal coalition governments led the country, two main policy goals were to be realized: the “rationalization” of the school system towards enhanced cost-effectiveness on the one hand, and the increase of its fairness towards children starting primary education from disadvantaged social and economic backgrounds on the other. Neoliberal views were thus accompanied with equity considerations and demands for fairness in an extremely decentralized system where primary schools were maintained by local governments.